Winter storm causes wrecks, gridlock in the South ATLANTA (AP) — The mad rush began at the first sight of snow: Across the Atlanta area, schools let out early and commuters left for home after lunch, instantly creating gridlock so severe that security guards and doormen took to the streets to direct cars amid a cacophony of blaring horns. Georgia State University student Alex Tracy looked on with amusement. “My family is from up north and we’re used to driving in the snow and stuff, and seein...

4 shot at NC church; boy, 12, critically wounded RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Police in a North Carolina town are searching for a man who sprayed a church playground with gunfire, striking four youths and leaving a 12-year-old boy gravely wounded. The Rev. James Gailliard at Word Tabernacle Church in Rocky Mount said the shooting happened shortly before 6 p.m. Monday, as about two dozen neighborhood teens played basketball on courts behind the sanctuary. Gailliard was in his office when he heard mor...

More implicated in nuke cheat probeWASHINGTON (AP) — The cheating scandal inside the Air Force’s nuclear missile corps is expanding, with the number of service members implicated by investigators now roughly double the 34 reported just a week ago, officials said Tuesday. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the additional 30-plus airmen suspected of being involved in cheating on proficiency tests are alleged to have participated in the cheating directly or were involved indirect...

’Long-term unemployment’ — one mom’s story AURORA, Ill. (AP) — Down the road from an emergency food pantry where a small crowd waits for the chance to gather free groceries, there is a church sign that reads: “If you need help, ask God. If you don’t, thank God.” Debbie Jurcak, one of those in line, will tell you that it is indeed divine help — or, anyway, faith-based organizations — that she and her family have relied on in recent weeks. Late last month, the federal government ended he...

’I’m walkin’ here!’: NYC takes aim at jaywalking NEW YORK (AP) — For many New Yorkers, crossing the street in the middle of the block or against the light is a way of life, part of an attitude that tells everybody, “I’m walkin’ here!” “Of course I jaywalk!” says 70-year-old Peter Standish, a retired corporate attorney and lifelong New Yorker, adding that he occasionally texts, reads and even does crossword puzzles while crossing. “I do look up often,” he noted. But with 12 pedestrians deaths...

College athletes take step toward forming union CHICAGO (AP) — Calling the NCAA a dictatorship, Northwestern’s quarterback and the United Steelworkers announced plans Tuesday to form the first labor union for college athletes — the latest salvo in the bruising fight over whether amateur players should be paid. Quarterback Kain Colter detailed the College Athletes Players Association at a news conference in Chicago, flanked by leaders of Steelworkers union that has agreed to pay legal bills ...

Toddlers love selfies: Parenting in an iPhone age LOS ANGELES (AP) — Every so often, Brandi Koskie finds dozens of photos of her 3-year-old daughter, Paisley, on her iPhone — but they aren’t ones Koskie has taken. “There’ll be 90 pictures, sideways, of the corner of her eye, her eyebrow,” said Koskie, who lives in Wichita, Kan. “She’s just tapping her way right into my phone.” The hidden photos, all shot by Paisley, illustrate a phenomenon familiar to many parents in today’s tech-savvy world:...

Folk singer, activist Pete Seeger dies in NY ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Unable to carry his beloved banjo, Pete Seeger used a different but equally formidable instrument, his mere presence, to instruct yet another generation of young people how to effect change through song and determination two years ago. A surging crowd, two canes and seven decades as a history-sifting singer and rabble-rouser buoyed him as he led an Occupy Wall Street protest through Manhattan in 2011. “Be wary of great lead...

Police say 3 dead after shooting at Maryland mall COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) — A man carrying a shotgun opened fire at a busy shopping mall in suburban Baltimore on Saturday, sending store employees and customers scrambling for cover. Police said three people died, including the person believed to be the shooter. Five people were injured. Police were still trying to determine the identity and motive of the gunman who killed a man and a woman, both in their 20s, at a skate shop called Zumiez on the up...

Justin Bieber’s arrest latest sign of trouble MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — When he debuted five years ago, Justin Bieber was a mop-haired heartthrob, clean cut and charming. But a series of troubling incidents have put his innocent image at risk, and none more so than his arrest on DUI charges Thursday. Police say they arrested a bleary-eyed Bieber — smelling of alcohol — after officers saw him drag-racing before dawn on a palm-lined residential street, his yellow Lamborghini traveling at nea...

Storm buries Northeast; 15.5 inches of snow in NJ PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A swirling storm clobbered parts of the mid-Atlantic and the urban Northeast on Tuesday, dumping nearly a foot and a half of snow, grounding thousands of flights, closing government offices in the nation’s capital and making a mess of the evening commute. The storm stretched 1,000 miles between Kentucky and Massachusetts but hit especially hard along the heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor between Philadelphia and Bost...

Many remain wary of W.Va. water as smell lingers CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The smell lingers — the slightly sweet, slightly bitter odor of a chemical that contaminated the water supply of West Virginia’s capital more than a week ago. It creeps out of faucets and shower heads. It wafts from the Elk River, the site of the spill. Sometimes it hangs in the cold nighttime air. For several days, a majority of Charleston-area residents have been told their water is safe to drink, that the concentrat...

Ohio killer’s execution takes almost 25 minutes LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — A condemned man appeared to gasp several times and took an unusually long time to die — more than 20 minutes — in an execution carried out Thursday with a combination of drugs never before tried in the U.S. Dennis McGuire’s attorney Allen Bohnert called the convicted killer’s death “a failed, agonizing experiment” and added: “The people of the state of Ohio should be appalled at what was done here today in their names.”...

Wildfire stops at LA suburbs as winds die down GLENDORA, Calif. (AP) — Santa Ana winds that fanned a campfire into a wildfire that destroyed five homes and threatened foothill neighborhoods east of Los Angeles relented Thursday afternoon, halting the blaze in its tracks. The fire swept through 1,700 acres of brush in the San Gabriel Mountains early in the day but by nightfall it was no longer advancing and was 30 percent contained. “The weather cooperated quite a bit today. We didn’t get t...

Drought prompts disaster declarations in 11 states LAS VEGAS (AP) — Federal officials have designated portions of 11 drought-ridden western and central states as primary natural disaster areas, highlighting the financial strain the lack of rain is likely to bring to farmers in those regions. The announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday included counties in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Kansas, Texas, Utah, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Oklahoma and California. The designation...

Cam shows person alive outside of Asiana plane crash before being run overSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Video from a firefighter's helmet camera following the crash landing of an Asiana Airlines flight in San Francisco shows rescuers were aware there was someone on the ground outside the plane, before she was fatally run over by a fire truck. CBS News first aired parts of the footage showing the chaotic aftermath of the July 6 crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport on Tuesday night. CBS sa...

Odd story: In cold, escaped inmate turns himself inFRANKFORT, Ky. — Just how cold was it in Kentucky last week? Apparently cold enough for an escaped prisoner to decide to turn himself in. Authorities said the inmate escaped from a minimum security facility in Lexington on Sunday, Jan 5. As temperatures dropped into the low single digits Monday, officials say the man walked into a motel and asked the clerk to call police. Robert Vick, 42, of Hartford told the clerk he wanted to turn himself in...

People wait for tap water to be cleared in West VirginiaCHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Downtown businesses and restaurants reopened Tuesday following last week’s chemical spill, but many people waited yet another day for officials to tell them their tap water was safe. So far, about 39 percent of West Virginia American Water’s customers have been allowed to use their water again after a chemical spilled into the Elk River on Thursday, state officials said. More than 200 restaurants have reopened where th...